Ever find a game world too depressing to play?

I finally got into playing Fallout 3 after getting it for under $20 last weekend. Apart from some of the issues I've had with other Bethesda games (jankiness, feeling a bit directionless), I really don't like how depressing the world is. At least some part of this comes from the fact that I live in Washington, DC and seeing places I know well completely obliterated is actually affecting me a bit. Beyond that, there's just such a harshness to the world that I'm not sure I want to spend more time there. Am I alone in this?

I never had that connection and I enjoyed Fallout 3 immensely. You could turn this into something positive, though. Soak up that environment knowing that your own living environment is a whole lot better. That way you can still enjoy exploring the bleak wasteland without having to succumb to that feeling of dread. Hope that helps =)

Spend a day or two reading The Road, and Fallout 3 will feel like Disney World.

Doom and Wolfenstein, when I was really little (like, 7 years old)

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream when I was in my teens

Nowadays, all game worlds are too depressing to inhabit, because they remind me that I'm pissing my time away on games.

@Ghost_Cat: I've read The Road and yes, it was depressing - but it wasn't "me" living that world. It's a testament to how immersive the world of Fallout 3 is, but walking out of a Metro station and seeing Dupont Circle, about 1/3 mile from my office, and seeing corpses and burned out cars gets to me

i kind of felt that way playing i have no mouth and i must scream

Not at all. I feel the same way with the same game. Just bought it today. I'll be continuing through for the sake of the diversity of characters and quests, but the setting is really drab. I find it helps if you pick out characteristics in this particular setting that are interesting, like how wide and expansive the fields are, and the novel idea of tens of vaults tucked into the landscape of a nuke-torn Washington.

Milieu in a game is the number one factor that determines whether I'm going to play it or not. If a game has an interesting milieu, chances are I will be into it, and willing to give it a try, no matter what kind of a game.

No. I love depressing. Demon's Souls, Gears of War, Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly et cetera. I wish there were more great games with world like that.

I see what you mean. Yeah, it bummed me out, but it also motivated me to take on more saintly tasks.  In the end, you have to remember it's just a game, with funny physics bugs to put a smile on your face every once in a while.

Nope, never.  Found Stalker to be much more depressing, visually at least, and Bioshock. In any case, its still fictional, the location shouldn't make a difference. Oh, and Alice Madness Returns.

Hell no. Keep in mind that I've played through this:
 
  

No, but I've put down a lot of books for this reason.
 
I have, though, put down a video game for awhile because I legitimately became furious at one of the characters. But I also loved the game for that reason. It made me hate a completely fictional character.

I will say Fallout 3 had a habit of bumming me out with it's dreary and dark world. At the same time, that game was so full of awesome that it didn't stop me from putting a ridiculous amount of hours into it. It wouldn't of been the same if it was sunshine and happiness.

Duke Nukem Forever world is very depressing. Not because of the "alien rape" thing, but because of the plataforming. That made me cry.

Never. I've not played a game that's depressed me yet, even though I may find some game worlds like Bioshock's or Fallout 3's to be dreary (enjoyably so).

LA NOIRE quit playing it becuse of all the racism

Fallout 3 popped into my mind right when I read the title. For me to enjoy open world RPGs, they have to create a world that I would actually want to live in and be apart of. I guess this is why I've always enjoyed the elder scrolls games more than fallout.

I felt the same way with Fallout 3 the first time I played it (I dont live in DC though). The world is super brown, the characters dont look too great, and it is a little hard to get into the game right away because the system is pretty deep. After I played it for the first couple hours I deleted my first character, created another, and played some more and I loved it after that. Once I knew what I was doing and developed a plan, the game became fun for me. 
 
Other than that, there are some survival horror games that I just cant play because the environments are very depressing. For whatever reason, survival horror games take a lot out of me every time I play them to the point where I can only play them in small spurts of about and hour or less once a day. A lot of Bethesda games have the same effect on me as well.

Spira in FFX, everyone keeps dying, they are all gloom and doom victims. False religions and also an overall spiral of death. However the environments were well designed.

@HitmanAgent47 said:

Spira in FFX, everyone keeps dying, they are all gloom and doom victims. False religions and also an overall spiral of death. However the environments were well designed.

Me too.

I don't know about depressing but Amnesia has me too scared to even play it. Every now and then I launch it but then as soon as I get in I just get too scared to keep going and I quit.

LA NOIRE quit playing it becuse of all the racism

Nope.

I love Demon's Souls, but there were times when I just wasn't in the mood to deal with that game world.

Kirby epic yarn, screw that reverse psychology!

Nailed it, Fallout 3/Stalker, I don't know if it was the world that made me depressed or just the gameplay, but neither game lasted more than 2 hours on my pc.

no, i don't think there are any places that depressed me in gaming.

I find the more depressing the world is, the more I like it.

Silent hill 2 was also quite depressing.

The bleakness of Fallout 3 is what makes it so good.

Never found a game too depressing to play, but I've certainly felt depressed by some games' worlds or characters or whatever. But I happen to like bleak and dreary things. If a game can make me feel depressed, I usually love it all the more for it.  Keep in mind, I'm not talking about a "Goodbye, cruel world!" kind of depression, just more of a general feeling of melancholy. 

I find any Legend of Zelda to be a horribly depressing game. The enemy is so overbearing, the world is so unwelcoming, the characters are lifeless, its just a sad game for me. I never get the feeling that i've actually defeated my enemy at the end if that makes any sense.

@ztiworoh: I understand, I felt the same way when I started out. After about 8hrs or so tho I really got into the game and enjoyed it.

L. A. Noire.
 

FFX was a very bleak game. Sad ending too. Also Silent Hill 2 is....I don't know what the hell Silent Hill 2 is.

It's kind of strange that Fallout3 is considerably depressing, even though its world is supposed to be opposite of that. The Fallout universe is filled with humor and colorful characters, and 3 doesn't seem to follow such things. I blame Bethesda's horrible writers.

@Tru3_Blu3 said:

It's kind of strange that Fallout3 is considerably depressing, even though its world is supposed to be opposite of that. The Fallout universe is filled with humor and colorful characters, and 3 doesn't seem to follow such things. I blame Bethesda's horrible writers.

I feel like in the Fallout Universe, shits terrible, but people have clearly found a way to thrive. They've seen the worst and beaten it, its why they have time to be so colorful.

Depressing? No.

However I have had games that were too scary or stressful to keep playing, like Amnesia.

@chrissedoff said:

i kind of felt that way playing i have no mouth and i must scream

I've never played that game, but that seems messed up.

Duke Nukem..

I never found it too depressing to play, but the world of The Witcher was pretty damn sad.

@ztiworoh said:

I finally got into playing Fallout 3 after getting it for under $20 last weekend. Apart from some of the issues I've had with other Bethesda games (jankiness, feeling a bit directionless), I really don't like how depressing the world is. At least some part of this comes from the fact that I live in Washington, DC and seeing places I know well completely obliterated is actually affecting me a bit. Beyond that, there's just such a harshness to the world that I'm not sure I want to spend more time there. Am I alone in this?

Yeah, dude! I'm with you! I believe my exact phrasing at one point was "bleak as shit". I couldn't take it.

I actually thought I was going to feel that way about Fallout 3, but it ended up being the total opposite. I love every minute of being in that wasteland. That place is like heaven to me. Depressing? More like wonderful and inviting and perfect!

Bioshock's rapture where I had some depressing moments.  

• Mother mentioned that her child thought the trees were monsters, the kid never saw trees before which kinda depresses me. 
• The family was looking for their child which was turned into a Little Sister.  The depressing part is when they saw their child harvesting bodies, lifeless.

When I was younger (12-14 ish), Eternal Darkness was damn close. That was the first game, or piece of fiction, where the good guys weren't guaranteed to win, or even come out of a conflict alive (hell, they were lucky if they died. "The Pillar of Flesh is complete"). The villains usually did more damage to the heroes than the heroes to them (or, at least, so it seems, until rather late in the game). Game was all about suffering and sacrifice. But it was also the first game I could play that let me chop zombies in half with a broadsword, so I pressed on.

I'd really like to play an MMO or RPG based on The Road. No flinching, either. Make it as stark and depressing and stomach churning as the book is.

I have to agree with you on Fallout 3.

When I saw the thread title I thought of Fallout 3. That said I played and enjoyed the game without becoming depressed because of it. The world seems cold and uninviting but it's great to explore once you become used to your environment.

@chrissedoff said:

i kind of felt that way playing i have no mouth and i must scream

That game world was unnerving to say the least. I also had a bit of trouble getting through that one because of the setting.

That said it was half the point of the game anyway.